jonstark

I have two reserve rides. Both were belly mount without pilot chute. One after having a floating ripcord after a five second delay. The second after cutting away a high speed mal with DOUBLE SHOT Capewells. There was no way I was going to try to hand deploy into the mess over my head!

Anyone who disbelieves the dangers or disregards the predicament they are in after exiting an aircraft in flight best remember... Skydiving is an activity where you can do everything right and still die. The air, like the sea, is unforgiving to those who err.

I might have had ten jumps when I encountered my first bullshitter. It was so obviously incredible that I didn’t even dispute his claims. It’s often best to acknowledge with a nod, a wow or that’s amazing and walk away. I have had the opportunity to shoot at least one especially arrogant BSer down in flames which felt good. More often than not I just let em bury themselves in their own BS.

He stopped by Pepperell this summer. We had a good visit. Great to see him after 30 years.

Lew from Massachusetts? Lew the competitive shooter Lew?!

I happen to know that the entire annual fuel consumption of one of Florida’s busiest DZs is equal to that used in one single day at the St Petersburg airport for Allegiant Airlines alone. Jon

For some reason the clanking of all those empty beer cans reminded me of wind chimes. Funny how that is!

Luke Frazier has attempted to defraud several Florida DZs after being convicted of similar crimes. Watch out for him and send him packing if he shows up at your DZ.

Chicken or egg? Show that you’re serious by showing up and jumping a lot while keeping eyes and ears open.

Depends on whether you are a low time jumper and whether you have heeded advice or admonition in the past. If you’ve been unreceptive to criticism in the past then a verbal warning would accomplish nothing. You made assumptions about the lights being inoperative. You misunderstood or disregarded communication and jumped over who-knows-what. Both pretty egregious errors. Listen up kid! The life you save may be your own. Edit to add... Grounding allows you to eat your humble pie, buy your mea-culpa beer and share your new tribal knowledge with the community. Banning or banishment is far greater punishment usually reserved for those unwilling to understand their repeated failures despite coaching and counseling.

There’s a nugget... “Some unknown dude Yuri.”

Why? I’m intrigued and intend to try it.

Yeah Buddy! Bitchin!

About as well as a melon

It seems that nobody remembers when Poppenhager used to train his students for their first jump as a freefall solo. He flew the plane and jumpmastered the student. Jon

Paul Poppenhager

Use the old rig to get current. There’ll be lots of time at the dz to look, touch, discuss your next rig. Spend your money on jumps for now. You can move your new Cypres over to a different rig later. Jon

When taking off in a DC3 you MUST raise the tail so that the aircraft can accelerate to flying speed and to get good airflow over the rudder for directional control. It takes a LOT of muscle to push the yoke forward. If you don’t raise the tail the aircraft will try to become airborne well before the 85-90 knots required. No airspeed, no rudder control... not good! Jon

We were doing them in the late seventies with “problem” students. Took a guy with a flat spin problem up a few times. What could go wrong? We didn’t know what we didn’t know. Yikes! Jon

The manufacturer has determined that their design and the materials used have a finite life based either on landings, hours or both. Unlike other aircraft neither they nor any outside agency has come up with life extending modifications. Jon

C’mon people. Back on topic. Let’s BAREFOOT BOOGIE at Pepperell!

I bought one hoping that it might be able to keep track of my wingsuit flying time. Alas, as soon as I get into flight it thinks I have opened. I have it set for SLO. I am very disappointed. I don’t imagine it’s capable of monitoring deployment/inflation time. Jon

In the olden times when the DC3 was the jump ship of choice there would be times when the base of a formation would exit well after the first jumpers had. The earlier jumpers would dive out but immediately turn around to track “up” to the base. Even though they had dived out the door they were still called “floaters” because they would have to float up to the base. Those following the base were the divers and invariably would leave facing the tail. Maybe your expert meant that it would always be best to present your belly forward toward the nose during exit rather than your back. Did he mean that you dive out head down with belly facing the nose? Probably. Jon

To celebrate our Twin Otter’s return to service after getting a new paint scheme we wanted a sheet cake with a picture of the airplane on it. Publix refused to use the picture until we could prove that we OWNED the plane.

Many of the Skyvans are approaching their life limit and face mandatory retirement. DZs operating them are being judicious about utilization. The US military prefers to train out of tailgate equipped aircraft and the contracts are far more lucrative than dropping fun jumpers. Fewer and fewer Skyvans will be available for fun jumping. Sherpa are the preferred aircraft for military training but the expense of operating makes then unattractive to any civilian DZ. Acquiring one is well within reach for a big DZ but without ongoing military contracts just too much money to operate.